TheCable

Some stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun have asked Segun Showunmi, former spokesman of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, to contest the 2023 governorship election in the state.

The party members across the 20 LGAs of the state converged in Abeokuta, the state capital, on Wednesday, to endorse Showunmi as the party’s choice for the gubernatorial election.

The party chieftains and members said it was time to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, saying Showunmi is the best bet if PDP will take back power again.

Members of the Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), led by the state chairman, Samson Ogunsanya, declared their support for Sowunmi at the rally.

Ogunsanya was flanked by Abayomi Arabambi, national publicity secretary of Labour Party (LP), and Moshood Adesina, chairman of Mega Party (MP).

“As the umbrella body of the opposition parties in Ogun state, we are here to show our support for our brother, Segun Showunmi,” he said.

“Showunmi is a politician with an enviable track record. We believe that he has the capacity to deliver Ogun state from backwardness the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has put the state in.

“We believe that with Showunmi in the helms of affairs, Ogun state will witness tremendous progress. Therefore, we urge all of you here to support him.”

Also speaking on the development, Arabambi asked the national leadership of the PDP and other stakeholders to align with Showunmi’s governorship ambition.

“We the opposition political parties members want to advise His Excellency Gov. Seyi Makinde who is the leader of this party in south-west and the national chairman of PDP, Senator Iyiocha Ayu, that they must look into the direction of this young man, Segun Showunmi, who took the audacious step to rescue the party from the hands of those who had stifled its growth for too long,” Arabambi said.

Showunmi, in his response, said the inability of the PDP to win the governorship seat in past elections was as a result of the infighting in the party

“All you have said concerning Segun Sowunmi to come and run for governor, I have heard and I heard clearly. I will definitely, most definitely and extremely definitely run for the governorship of Ogun state in 2023,” he said.

“I have spent the last 20 years or more in this political dispensation serving them, speaking for them, improving them, running for them and I have now realised that I’m the leader I have been searching for. And I tell you again with every sense of responsibility that you have never seen governance at the level I intend to do it.”